Fate
by narwhalprincess
Summary: Ami Mizuno just wanted to live a normal life after defeating what she thought would be the last enemy she would ever face. However, a mysterious new figure appears, threatening to destroy all Ami ever cared about if she refused to help the evil cause. When Usagi and Chibiusa die in a car accident, it is clear that their deaths were not just an accident, something evil is at work.
1. Chapter 1

Mamoru

Usagi Tsukino had promised to call. That is simply what is expected of a person with terrible driving skills who takes their boyfriend's Ferrari on a day trip to the beach. Especially with Chibiusa riding along. It was their day to catch up with each other, this being Chibiusa's first visit in a year and a half. I probably would have worried if I had sent her on my old tricycle. My phone had remained silent all day. I pushed this to the back of my mind. She probably forgot to charge her cell.

Then the harsh sound of my phone vibrating on the kitchen countertop rang through the apartment. I walked calmly to the phone, not wanting to sound like I had been waiting for her call. The caller I.D did not, however display her name. It was from an unfamiliar number. I figured she must have borrowed a phone from someone.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Is this Mamoru?" The voice on the other end of the line sound choked and hoarse.

"Yes."

"This is Ikuko."

"You sound a bit different Ms. Tsukino."She inhaled so deeply I could hear it on the phone.

"I have to speak to you." She dissolved into tears. Chibiusa, who I know admired you very much, she was killed in a car accident. This morning." I said nothing. I thought of my parents. The words I had heard before. My brain went through all the emotions, and decided simply to not pick one at all.

"Usagi is alive. For how much…" Ikuko dissolved into tears again. "We don't know how much longer. She's at Central Hospital. I understand if you can't handle coming."

"No, no, I'll be there."

Ikuko hung up. I searched frantically for the keys to my car. Fifteen minutes later I was no closer to finding them than I was when I started. Then my currently useless mind remembered that Usagi had the car. The pain of losing my beautiful bright red car was something I could process. It wasn't even mine; it was my father's, his pride and joy. Or so I was told. I don't remember anything about them. I spent the long motorcycle ride trying to convince myself that I was really pissed off about the loss of my car. Somewhere inside though, I knew I didn't really care.

...

When I arrived, Minako and Rei sat on a sofa in the waiting room. The ICU wait area was much more lavish than the other areas. Minako gave me a hug, which I was awkwardly forced to return, while Rei just continued to stare at the opposite wall. Minako's face was streaked with tears, while her friend seemed to have a reaction similar to mine. "No one but family is allowed in there. She's in a coma. I think they'll let us in soon." Rei said, more to the floor than to me. Minako scooted closer to Rei to make room for me to sit. I had never been particularly close to Usagi's friends, but obviously they thought I needed them. Maybe I did.

Rei's prediction didn't prove true. My pre-med training had given me enough sense to know arguing with doctors would not bring us any closer to seeing her. The three of us sat there in a silence that would have been awkward under any other circumstance. For at least an hour. I still wasn't even sure this was real.

Makoto Kino came rushing in ninety minutes later. She gave Minako and Rei a hug, then sat down in between them, pushing me to the very end of the couch. The remaining members of the Tsukino family walked silently in to the room.

"You can see her now, if you'd like." This meant she had been moved from the ICU. This meant she was at least, alive. I felt Mrs. Tsukino would have mentioned if her condition was otherwise, seeing as she was the designated bearer of bad news.

Her little brother, Shingo, led us down a long hallway to her room. Rei pushed open the door, slowly, wincing when it creaked. A nurse stood over her, changing her IV's. "She is in a comatose state. Honestly, her odds aren't great. I am truly sorry."

That's when I saw her. Her recently cut hair was neatly arranged on the pillow and the blanket was tucked underneath her arms. There were several large bandages on her head. "Looks like she has internal brain damage." I whispered to no one in particular. Her friends solemnly nodded and continued staring at her, because there was nothing else to do. I wished I could be alone, to watch her without being watched by others. She looked peaceful, but so unlike herself. She would never sleep like this, never look like this at all. Where was she really? Here, or somewhere else, or nowhere at all?

It was me who gave her the car. Some things can shake you out of your state of shock. This was one of them. It was all real now, it wasn't going away. It's better to curse the universe, than to blame yourself. I suddenly began crying, something I hadn't done in years. . Minako and Makoto looked politely at the floor. Rei looked me square in the eye. "It's not your fault. You let her have the car, sure. She crashed it. It sucks that it happened, but you didn't do it. It was fate. The crystal saved her before, it can do it again. "

I was silent. I didn't hate myself any less, but at least they weren't angry. I didn't want the people who love her as much as I do to be blaming me for this. I turned and left. I had decided she wasn't there, but maybe she'd come back.

…

I didn't go to class the next day. People describe misery a lot of ways, but isn't a feeling easily conveyed. I had split myself in two, each hating the other, the one who wanted to keep going without them, and the one who said to stay behind. Minako called me every few hours, but I didn't answer. She told me to come and visit, Usagi would be back, but I couldn't bear to give myself false hope. God, I was so selfish.

It was three days later when I finally decided to get out of my apartment and try to keep going. For Chibiusa, she wouldn't want me to throw everything away because she was gone. I was pondering why the crystal hadn't saved her as well. I wanted to turn back, but pressed on. Halfway to class, my phone rang. I resolved to answer it, because that was part of what going on entailed. An unfamiliar number appeared. Last time I answered a call from a number I didn't know, look where it got me. Right as the phone was about to stop ringing, I brought it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Hello. It's Setsuna. I need your help. I think together, we can bring them back." With that I stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of the street.

"I'm listening."


	2. Chapter 2

2. Ami

I awoke to a chilling voicemail on my phone. "Miss Mizuno, the master would like to speak with you the evening of the twenty-second." The message ended abruptly here. It always did. I had received dozens of these, and I will receive dozens more. This master, however, had betrayed me.

Today was the day of Usagi's funeral, and it was the middle of summer vacation. I should have been at home with my friends when they needed me, and I needed them. Instead I was sneaking past my roommate and out on to the deserted streets. The occasional car drove past, and I kept walking with my head down, headed for the condemned convenience store at the end of the street.

The old doorbell tinkled when I opened the door. Fate sat in the corner, her ankle length, jet black hair unpinned and flowing loose around her shoulders. She was sipping something from a cup displaying the logo of a fast food restaurant, and managed to make this action look graceful. "Miss Mizuno. A pleasure as always." I kept absolutely silent, but tears began to well up in my eyes. I couldn't let her see me like this.

"You betrayed me!" I let out. "I have given up everything to make sure you fulfilled your promise, and you broke it!"

"Sweetheart, it was the only way." I hated how she sounded motherly and comforting, when she didn't care for me at all.

" You said you wouldn't kill them!"

"I do recall what I said, Ami. Though, I haven't killed all of them. It was however, imperative to our cause that Chibiusa and Usagi Tsukino be killed."

"It's not my cause. If you're not going to keep the promises that forced me to help you, I am leaving."

"Ami Mizuno, to do so would not be in your best interest."

"I'm not scared of you. If you're going to kill me and my friends anyway, I might as well die protecting them from you."

"Ami Mizuno, of all the promises I have made with my agents, yours was the only one I have been forced to break, and I intend not to break it any further. Unless, of course, you fail to keep your promise to me."

"I can't trust you."

"Of course you can't. You would be a fool if you did. However, I think you trust me enough to believe me when I say that back in Tokyo, Minako Aino has a new roommate. This roommate is a trained assassin, and she will be receiving a call to kill Miss Minako Aino in any way possible at the slightest sign of your betrayal."

" I could kill you."

" Miss Ami Mizuno, I have to warn you, doing so would result in certain death for you and these people you work so hard to protect."

" Maybe it would be better I dead than working for you."

" Ami, dear, I am prepared to make my infractions up to you."

" You can' t make up for it, Miss Fate" I spat back in her face.

" Miss Mizuno, I find it very important to make sure the recipient of my words know that they are addressed to them. I am planning to compensate you by making you one of my head agents. You will be one of the few informed of my mission, and I assure you, there will be several benefits that come along with the acceptance of this offer, and several consequences with declining it." With this she held up her phone, in its bejeweled case. The contact read: Miss Minako Aino's roommate. She held her finger with its long fake nails over the green call button.

"Okay."

"I always knew you were an intelligent girl, Ami."

I looked her defiantly in the eye, even though she had won.

" Go home. Call your Mom one last time. Collect the possessions you absolutely need. I'll see you here at the usual time. If you give me reason to regret that I trusted you, Miss Minako and you, Miss Ami Mizuno, will pay the price."

"I understand."

. . .

I called my Mom, like Fate said. I tried my best not to cry, but twenty minutes before I had to leave, I broke down. I was leaving my scholarship position at Harvard, abandoning my dream of becoming a doctor to work against everything I believed in. I might never see my family again, but at least they would be safe.

I'm spending my life protecting them, and that is certainly not a waste.

I wanted to leave a note for someone to find, my boss at work, or whoever was going to notice I'd gone missing. However, that might cost them their life. Fate is a strategist, and it is always a wise strategy to eliminate those who know too much. With one last glance at the apartment I had spent the last good years of my life in, I departed with several tote bags in hand, and began the familiar walk to the gas station.

...

_It was a sweltering summer day in my poorly air-conditioned apartment. I was sprawled out on the floor, reading some medical textbooks when my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, so I let it go to voicemail. It was the first of many awful, terrifying voicemails. _

"_Miss Ami Mizuno. Fate would like to meet with you. It is in your best interests that you accept this offer. Please arrive at the condemned gas station on the corner of sixty-third at Three A.M sharp on the morning of the Twenty Third of July. Failure to comply with these instructions will result in the mysterious disappearances of Usagi and Chibiusa Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba, as well as yourself, Miss Ami Mizuno. Do not bother reporting this message to the authorities, as doing so will result in the death of not only those listed above, but any of your relations."_

_ They would certainly be willing to sacrifice their lives if it would prevent a new evil from destroying our world. I could gather from the nature of the voicemail that their deaths would not stop whatever this was. It was best to not involve them. I had to keep them alive._

_ At Three A.M sharp I arrived outside a nasty old eyesore of a building. I had to kick the door open. I realized that this could all be a joke, a prank, but I didn't have any close friends, there wasn't anyone who could know about my friends at home. _

_ I was greeted by a woman with jet black hair of any extraordinary length. She was wearing cutoff denim shorts and a pink V-neck T-Shirt. She looked normal enough, just a little bit older than me. _

_ "Miss Ami Mizuno. What a pleasure. We have business to discuss."_

_ "And you are?"_

_ " Fate. You may call me master, if you wish, but this is not nessesary." She said this without a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She didn't intend for that to be a joke? _

_ "Fate?"_

_ "Yes. Now, Miss Mizuno, you are a student from Tokyo, are you not?" I struggled with how to answer this question. Giving away details about myself wasn't a wise course of action, but if she discovered that I lied, she could certainly deliver on the threat she made in her message. Three years of fighting against the darkest evils in the universe had taught me to take everything seriously. _

_ "Yes."_

_ "You're honest. Excellent. I chose you well. My agents tell me you have special abilities, yes?"_

_ "I am a scholarship winner." _

_ "I meant abilities of a more, supernatural type." _

_ "I don't think I am one to comment on my abilities, supernatural or otherwise."_

_ "My agents are everywhere, especially in areas on interest. You are a superhero of some sort, yes? Call yourself Sailor Mercury. Some costume with bows and ribbons. You appear to possess real abilities. I know everything about you, Miss Mizuno."_

_ "That would be correct." _

_ "You will fit in well here. I would like to offer you a position as an agent here. As with all of my agents, I grant them something as a reward for their loyal service to me. I will offer Miss Ami Mizuno, the promise that I will not kill your friends or your parents, or yourself, Ami. Deal?"_

_ "Deal." Nothing was ever the same again. _

_ "Wise decision. I will call you back here periodically to help me perform tasks, such as interrogating others, and writing information reports. I understand that you are quite studios. I may ask you to use your power, if necessary. Betray me in any way, and I am no longer obligated to keep my promise. _

…

" Ami, are you ready to part with your old life?" Fate greeted me as I walked through the door of the gas station.

"No. But I'm going to anyway."

"Brave girl. Now, do you like roadtrips?"

"Never been."

She gestured toward a bright red Ferrari. I noticed it had a Japanese license plate. " Fate, I will not drive this car."

"Of course you won't. I will allow myself the pleasure of driving this fine machine." Fate treated herself like a Queen, and delivered her most narcissistic statements without a hint of sarcasm, instead she treated them like a fact, as well known as two plus two.

We drove in uncomfortable silence for half an hour, according to the clock on the dashboard. Fate had turned an awful country music station on the radio, and was humming quite obnoxiously because she felt she had the right to do so. I grew tired of staring at the clock, so I turned my attention to my feet in their sensible tennis shoes. Then I noticed the notebook at my feet. I flipped through it, and saw the name written on the inside cover. Mamoru Chiba "You stole his car!"

"Yes." That was that. We were headed north on twisting country roads. I had never been this far from the college before.

"Ami, I mentioned that several benefits come with your promotion. One of those is information. So I will tell you what this is all for, why I have these agents, for this all has a purpose."

"Do tell, Ms. Fate." I was listening, whatever I had involved myself in, I was about to find out now.

"All of us have a sort of life force, it is either depleted by the constant action of breathing, walking, living, or weakened by something, or simply shut down. My life force, however, is draining very quickly, for while I am human in mind, my body is mechanical. I will never age. My creator gave me twenty four months of life. Six of those remain. However, I don't find this enough. My creator refused to dedicate the time needed to find me a better battery, so to speak, to recharge me so I can keep living. So I took it upon myself to keep my life going. I simply made promises to anyone who I thought could help me. Some of these people were interested in the science, but others need persuasion. I needed more answers, more workers. I began finding people who could do all sorts of jobs. Then I came across the silver crystals of Ms. Usagi Tsukino and Ms. Chibiusa Tsukino. My problems are solved, but I still have promises to fulfill. That will be your job."

She wasn't going to live to see the rise of Crystal Tokyo. She wouldn't get a thousand years. Somehow I could gather that one thousand years wasn't going to be enough for her. "You left out a few details at the end." I remarked staring straight into her strikingly violet eyes.

"I will wait and see if you are to be trusted with the information. " The car came to a stop. A looming figure, a private jet loomed above us. I could kill her now. How many people would I free, but how many people would still be loyal to her?

Fate exited the car and slammed the door behind her. I stalked out of the car and tried to walk as sulkily as possible down the tarmac to the jet. There was seemingly no end to her connections. I was here, but I was not going to give her the impression I was happy about it. I settled into my seat and threw my bags down on the ground with a huff. There was a sharp pain in my arm. I heard " I apologize Ami, but this is absolutely necessary." Then everything went black.


End file.
